Dharma-abiding wisdom can know the past and the future: is this direct perception, inference, or non-valid cognition?

With the wisdom of the knowledge of the established dharma (dharmasthiti-jñāna), one can attain liberation. Therefore, the knowledge of the established dharma is the wisdom that directly realizes the twelve links of dependent origination through direct perception; even when one can know the past and the future, it is still knowing through direct perception, not through inference. The wisdom known through inference is very shallow; wisdom that must rely on some dharma in order to know is unreliable and not ultimate—once the dharma it depends on does not appear, the inferential knowledge disappears. Within inferential knowledge, there is no process of the manas personally investigating, so the manas cannot personally realize it, and the mind consciousness cannot know independently either. Reasoning partly belongs to inference and partly belongs to non-valid cognition; even if the reasoning is correct, it is still not direct perception, because the manas does not know it. As for the manas's knowing, if it knows, it knows; if it does not know, it does not know—the dividing line appears extremely quickly, manifesting in the very moment, without requiring the mind consciousness to slowly deliberate and investigate.

Some people say that since one cannot see the past and the future, and the dharmas of the past and future cannot be made present, knowledge of the dharmas of the past and future should be inferential knowledge. Such a claim is incorrect. "Being present" does not necessarily mean appearing before one's eyes; wisdom is not initiated by the eye consciousness but is jointly initiated by the mind consciousness and the manas. The mind consciousness and the manas can fully realize and verify the dharmas of the past and future. In particular, the manas is not obstructed by time and space at all; following the tathāgatagarbha, it can know all dharmas. The dharmas of past lives can be recalled the moment one intends to recall them, and the dharmas of future lives can be known the moment one intends to know them—dream states and meditative states demonstrate this point. Therefore, what the manas does not know cannot be wisdom of direct perception. When the mind consciousness knows through direct perception, the manas does not necessarily know through direct perception, and the mind consciousness's knowing can be overlooked and nullified as different conditions arise.